Is the blog dead? Marketing gurus have predicted the death of blogging on and off since 2009. In niche industries like optics and photonics, advanced manufacturing, and medical devices, many companies were slow to adopt a content-driven strategy because they believed their customers didn’t read blogs. Now that they’ve seen the ROI of blogging, we question how long it will remain viable. Let’s explore.

5 Blogging Trends Marketers Should Know

The standalone or personal blog is dead. Difficult to monetize, maintain, and attract attention in the fast-changing world of SEO, we have seen the decline of this type of blog.

Companies who began blogging early often used a stand-alone platform, poorly integrated into their website, losing out on traffic, time-on-site and conversion. The majority of those companies, rather than abandoning the benefits of blogging, have turned to more robust marketing platforms such as HubSpot to better integrate their content strategy.

Blog traffic is declining but has a long tail. One client we’ve worked with for years has seen a steady increase in traffic to a blog post we wrote over two years ago. While promotion of this content on social media channels accounts for the original traffic, Google algorithm changes that prioritize quality have likely caused recent upticks.

“If you write it, they will come” does not hold true. Promoting quality content to relevant and engaged audiences through social media is critical to attracting readers.

Attention spans have shrunk. Five years ago, best practice was a 400-600 word blog post; then that grew to 600-800 words. This year, however, we’re finding that the most effective posts for converting leads average 200-400 words. Readers are researching and in layers, and they want to take the next step by jumping to another post or downloading a white paper.

The rise of voice search (already over 20% of mobile traffic) is changing the way we approach content development. To improve SEO, think in terms of questions and answers. The FAQ format is particularly suited to product launch marketing, helping prospects and customers get quick answers to technical or product-related questions.

Blogging is a catalyst. It’s not the one tactic that will change your marketing ROI—but it is the one small habit you can embrace that will signify a shift to:

Ongoing engagement with your prospects and customers

Innovation and thought leadership

Iterative web content—a casual way to create and test new content’s value to your audience, then integrate it into web pages

Effective marketing is not event-based but a regular, strategic activity that may drive the rest of your marketing activities.

Blogging Supports B2B Marketing Strategy

Working with dozens of tech companies who are highly targeted and small but global, we watch the marketing metrics each month. We continue to recommend blogging as a foundational activity for companies looking to: